Is Artificial Turf Safe for Our Kids and Our Environment?

In response to rising neighbor concerns about artificial turf proposed for playing fields at both Lafayette Elementary School and the Episcopal Center for Children (ECC), ANC 3/4G SMD02 Commissioner Bruce Sherman is hosting the first of two virtual community meetings for his constituents as well as other interested residents in the Chevy Chase community.

The program will feature short presentations from representatives of the artificial turf industry as well as leading national experts on the environmental and health issues regarding turf, including Dr. Kyla Bennett of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Dr. Sarah Evans of Mount Sinai, and Dr. Graham Peaslee of Notre Dame University. Open community Q&A and discussion will follow.

The field project at ECC (by Maret School) is the second large-scale artificial turf installation in the SMD02 Commission district. St. John’s College High School has had artificial turf fields for several years. Lafayette is two blocks away, and many school families are also constituents. The March 13 announcement at Lafayette by District officials of plans to install artificial turf on the lower field was met with immediate community concern.

The community conversation speaks to two, concurrent interests: neighbors want both access to durable, reliably playable athletic fields for school and recreational sports programs, and they want to ensure the safety and well-being of youth athletes and the environment. The March 26 meeting will address the latter; the second meeting (date TBA) will focus on the former.

Increased injuries, heat effects, disposal challenges (despite recycling efforts) have long been concerns about artificial turf. New worries have emerged over plastic pollution (artificial turf is plastic) and PFAS “forever chemicals” (all artificial turf tested to date contains PFAS). Even though artificial turf has been around for some sixty years, the emerging science is raising new questions.
The meeting will take up these questions towards providing the community with the most up-to-date, fact- and science-based information. Again, all interested community members are invited to attend. I welcome folks to be in touch ahead of the meeting with any comments or questions.

Please be sure to REGISTER for the Zoom.